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Title: | Non-dual Awareness and Sensory Processing in Meditators: Insights from Startle Reflex Modulation |
Authors: | Kumari, V Tailor, U Saifullah, A Pandey, R Antonova, E |
Keywords: | habituation;prepulse inhibition;startle reflex;mindfulness;meditation;non-dual Awareness |
Issue Date: | 8-Jul-2024 |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Citation: | Kumari, V. et al. (2024) 'Non-dual awareness and sensory processing in meditators: Insights from startle reflex modulation', Consciousness and Cognition, 123, 103722, pp. 1 - 16. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2024.103722. |
Abstract: | Startle modulation paradigms, namely habituation and prepulse inhibition (PPI), can offer insight into the brain’s early information processing mechanisms that might be impacted by regular meditation practice. Habituation refers to decreasing response to a repeatedly-presented startle stimulus, reflecting its redundancy. PPI refers to response reduction when a startling stimulus “pulse” is preceded by a weaker sensory stimulus “prepulse” and provides an operational measure of sensorimotor gating. Here, we examined habituation and PPI of the acoustic startle response in regular meditators (n = 32), relative to meditation-naïve individuals (n = 36). Overall, there was no significant difference between meditators and non-meditators in habituation or PPI, but there was significantly greater PPI in meditators who self-reported being able to enter and sustain non-dual awareness during their meditation practice (n = 18) relative to those who could not (n = 14). Together, these findings suggest that subjective differences in meditation experience may be associated with differential sensory processing characteristics in meditators. |
Description: | Data availability: Data will be made available on request. |
URI: | https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/29238 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2024.103722 |
ISSN: | 1053-8100 |
Other Identifiers: | ORCiD: Veena Kumari https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9635-5505 ORCiD: Elena Antonova https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1624-3202 103722 |
Appears in Collections: | Dept of Life Sciences Research Papers |
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FullText.pdf | Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). | 1.74 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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